When Life Is Wrong
by LivinJgrl123
Summary: Arianna knew him before his parents' deaths, and the only way to protect them both was to have him believed dead. And because she's believed it, she's blamed herself for his death forever. What happens when Arianna sees the only friend from her early childhood not only alive, but as Nightwing as well? *Considered A/U* *COMPLETE*
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer.**

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I stared up at the burning timbers of the old warehouse came crashing down. I was waiting for the searing impact that would throw me across the room, and for the rubble to trap me as I died a slow, painful death...

I jumped out of the way, but I wasn't quick enough: another timber fell on top of me. I screamed as the burning block of wood began searing my right leg, but the more I struggled to get free, the quicker I burned alive.

I called out for help, but the smoke was choking me.

This was no ordinary fire: this warehouse was an old abandoned toy factory. Someone had set in on fire, but this had been might hideout. I hadn't known until I smelled the smoke.

My eyelids started to close, and I tried to shove the wood off of me. I no longer cared that my hands were being burnt: I had to survive. I tried and tried and tried, but the more I did, the more my skin burned. A final scream escaped my lips as I heard the breaking of glass somewhere above me, but I felt as if I was falling as I heard shouting.

As everything faded, I prayed that I was dead.

Dead so I wouldn't feel anymore.

Dead because no one would miss me.

But I didn't die that day.

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**yes, another story. WHEN WILL I STOP! never. right, so, I will try to update everything as fast as I can, but you know how writing like 10 stories at a time and homework goes :)**

**What do you think of it?**

**Thanks for reading!**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Thank you for reading :)**

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When I opened my eyes, I knew I was in a hospital. I blinked several times. My room was dark, and it was cold. I could hear the beeping of my heart next to me, but as I looked down at myself, I wanted to gasp, but there was something stuck down my throat. I was covered in bandages.

The fire.

The burning.

The hope that I'd died.

But, no, here I was.

I sat up, coughing, yanking the tube out of my throat, gulping in fresh air. I wondered how long I'd been in here. I ached all over, but since I was groggy, I had to guess someone had been nice enough to give me pain meds. I couldn't feel the guilt that usually weighed me down, so I cherished the drug induced state. Swinging my legs over the side of the bed, I began ripping tubes out of my arms. I didn't even register the pain; I just unhooked myself and let my feet dangle above the ground before I carefully set them on the chilly tiled floor. I slowly got off the bed, and, to no surprise, fell to the floor. My legs were weak, and my head was spinning.

I crawled over to the door and used the handle to get myself back on my feet. With shaking hands, I managed to get the door open, and stepped out into the hall.

I glanced to my right and nearly fell over at the sight of the hero, Miss Martian, staring at me. When I could find no words, I turned and tried running away, but she caught my hand.

"Hello there," she smiled warmly at me. I was confused. Why was she here.

"I..." I really didn't know what to say to her, because I'd never talked to any one of that belonged to her team or the Justice League. I was shy, often said the wrong things, and because of that, I rarely spoke.

"You're Arianna, right?" I nodded slowly as she had me sit down beside her in the cold chair. I shivered and rubbed my arms. She noticed and squeezed my hand. "Do you remember the fire?"

It was slowly coming back to me, but the drugs weren't really helping me out here. "I...burning," I mumbled, "I was burning."

I'd wanted to die.

I looked at her, eyes wide as I tried to talk. "Did you pull me out of there?"

She shook her head. "No, Kid Flash and Nightwing did that."

"Someone call my name?"

I jumped at the loud voice that echoed loudly in my ears. I turned to see the Kid Flash himself and tried to make myself as small as possible. That usually worked.

But not today it didn't. What time was it, even?

"Kid Flash, you remember Arianna?"

He grinned at me. "Oh, yeah," he said, making me wince, "me and Nightwing saved you."

I nodded slowly. I felt uncomfortable in their presence. I looked at my hands, and examined the bandages that had been spun carefully over my fingers. Could you usually wrap fingers like this? I shivered again, and took my hand away so I could keep my knees to my chest. I bit my lip, my mind going to my family. Where were they?"

"You okay?" Kid Flash asked me.

I glanced at him, wanting to go back into my room, even though it was ice cold in there.

"Fine," I mumbled.

It could have been the truth; it should have been. But it was always a lie, every single time I'd ever said it was a total lie.

He shrugged and turned to the green girl who was looking at me with concern.

My mind was traveling elsewhere, though, so I kept my attention on her so it wouldn't go to the place it went when my mind was blank.

"So, Miss Martian, Artemis and Superboy want to know when you plan to get back," he said, glancing at me. I averted my eyes, turning my head away, thanking the doctors silently for giving me meds.

The guilt was dormant now, and it wasn't holding me down. I felt light. I had felt this way only once. Just once. I'd been at the circus, seeing the Flying Graysons... I shook myself out of that memory, shutting the mentally made door so I wouldn't have to see it.

To live it again.

"I want to stay with her," Miss Martian said, and I looked at her. I didn't need a babysitter; I needed my family. And why would she stay? Obviously, she had a job to do, and I was pretty sure it wasn't sitting with a girl who was doped up on whatever they'd given me.

"Why?"

They both turned to look at me, and I began to turn my head away from them. I never said anything right, or at the right time. Miss Martian put a warm hand on my shoulder, and I looked at her out of the corner of my eye. "Because you're family... well, don't you remember?"

Oh, right.

They were on vacation, and I had offered to stay here, in Gotham. Stupid, stupid, stupid. How could I have forgotten about that?

"Yes," I mumbled.

"We wouldn't want you to be alone, would we?" she asked me brightly.

I shrugged. "Don't really know."

"Is it okay if we ask you some questions?" Kid Flash asked me, grinning broadly.

I shrugged again.

"Why were you in that toy factory?" he asked me.

"It's...was... my old hideout. I used to play fort there, with a boy I once knew."

One of the Flying Graysons. My heart hurt at the thought of that boy with those happy blue eyes, that contagious laugh and smile...

I cringed inwardly.

Kid Flash and Miss Martian nodded.

"Who set the fire?" I asked them suddenly.

"Some criminal," Miss Martian waved it off.

I frowned, resting my chin on my knees. "My friend, he told me that we ought to play in it before it got burnt down," I said suddenly. "He..." I shook my head.

"Is something wrong?" Kid Flash asked me.

Miss Martian frowned. "She's not okay."

I jerked my head up to look her in the eye. I remembered that she could sense emotions, and that bothered me slightly. But it was one of her powers.

"The meds make it too hard to figure her out, though," she gave me a reassuring smile. I wanted to smile back, but I was just me. Plain old, guilty little me. "That's all we want to ask you for now."

I nodded and made a move to stand up, but fell to the floor. I frowned.

I waved Kid Flash's hand away and used the cold chair to attempt to stand, but I was too dizzy to do it on my own. Miss Martian stood and put my arm over her shoulder. "I can see you want to be left alone," she said, "but we will have to come back."

I nodded.

"So what's the plan?" I heard someone shout. I winced again. I turned my head and was shocked to see Nightwing walking towards us. I wanted to go back into my room, immediately. But I couldn't.

"Not so loud," Miss Martian said to him, smiling at me for a brief moment before turning back to him. "I'm going to keep her company till she gets home."

Nightwing looked at me, his eyes narrowed for the smallest of seconds before it went blank. He held out his hand to me, and gave a small smile. "Nice to see you awake," he said. I took it hesitantly. He dropped my hand while looking at me expectantly.

"Arianna," I mumbled, looking at my door. It was going to be so cold in there when I came back in.

"Arianna," Miss Martian said lightly, making me look at her.

"Yes?" I mumbled. I mumbled more than I should. Maybe it was because of the drugs; I couldn't figure it out.

"Why were you there?"

I sighed, looking at his masked face, wanting to crawl away from all of them. They must have better things to do, I thought, things that didn't include me.

"It was our hideout," I said, "me and my friend's."

"Who is this friend?" Kid Flash asked me, finally getting that the meds made my hearing sensitive.

"He's dead," I said, looking down at my bare feet. The nail polish there, black and blue, had been chipped away. I looked at my fingers, but I couldn't see if the same had happened to them. Guilt wanted me to feel it, but the drugs were keeping it at bay.

"He's dead," I said again, a little clearer as I looked at Miss Martian. "We used to play fort there. He always had the best ideas, but..." I shook my head, a lump forming in my throat. I looked at the ground again.

All three of them were staring at me; Nightwing the most intense. If they kept looking at me like that I was sure that they would see right through me and discover what a horrible person I really was.

"Let's get you back to your room," Kid Flash finally said, nudging Nightwing.

"It's cold," I blurted as Miss Martian's gloved hands reached for the knob.

"Huh?" she blinked.

"It's cold in there," I said.

"We'll turn up the heat if you'd like," Kid Flash offered. I nodded, and let her open the door.

"Wait!" I called out as the two older boys turned to leave. They looked at me. "Thank you," I said, biting my lip and looking at the ground again, "For saving me. Thank you."

"No problem," Kid Flash grinned. Turning to the other one, he said, "I believe she was talking to me."

Nightwing snorted. "You wish."

I watched them leave, and Miss Martian walked me across the floor and set me down on my bed.

"You don't have to stay," I told her as she adjusted the temperature.

"I'd like to," she said softly, sitting down. I laid down and curled up into a ball.

"Miss Martian?" I asked after a while.

"Yes?"

"Thank you." I closed my eyes and managed to fall asleep.

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**A/N: please review :D**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: I want to thank you for being brave and reading this... you rock! this differs from the ORIGINAL COMIC story line (regarding nightwing) but, eh. Fanfiction, right?**

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I heard the voices of my parents before I opened my eyes. I could also here Miss Martian talking to them.

"...she's fine, our team just needs to ask her some more questions," the green girl was saying. I sat up and wanted to vomit: the guilt was back, and the pain meds had worn off. I still ached all over, more than before, but I knew I was still medicated. I saw Mom, Dad, Miss Martian, and Nightwing in the doorway.

"Arianna!" Mom cried, seeing that I was awake. She rushed over to me and nearly killed me by giving me a bone-crushing hug.

"Hey, Mom," I said quietly. Dad came over to me and ruffled my hair.

"Hey, kiddo," he said warmly.

I nodded, hating how many people were in the room. I stared at my bandaged legs, arms, and hands. My torso was tightly bandaged, making it difficult to breathe.

Miss Martian came over to me, followed by Nightwing. The guy was still staring at me like I'd done something wrong. I had to look at my bandaged fingers as the guilt rooted me firmly to the ground, reminding me how I had done nothing.

I could've done something.

I stopped myself from thinking about it: Mom had told me long ago that it wasn't my fault, but it had been.

I'd watched my friend's parents get shot and had heard a few more shots before I screamed and ran away in fright.

They hadn't found any of the bodies, but they'd found a ton of blood.

Blood that belonged to three people. A mother, a father, and a child.

I started shivering as another lump formed in my throat. Miss Martian put a hand on my shoulder, and I looked up at her.

"We need to ask those questions now," Nightwing told me. I looked at him and nearly recoiled at the look in his eyes, because I didn't know what it was. Miss Martian seemed to sense this.

Facing my parents, she said, "can you give us a moment?"

Dad gave her a look. "She just woke up. We want to talk to her."

"Please," Nightwing said, "it won't take long."

Mom started dragging Dad out of the room. I watched them leave, the guilt once again thickening to the point where I turned my head away from the two left in the room and faced the wall, biting my lip fiercely.

There had been so much blood.

_So much..._

Miss Martian sat down in front of me. "I can feel your emotions, remember?" she asked softly. I looked at her sharply.

"Why?" I whispered.

"Why, what?" she wondered, looking at me as if I had asked the hardest question that math had ever seen.

"Why... do you have to sense... what I feel?"

She shrugged, smiling gently. "It's what I do, for one, and two, the guilt is rolling off you in waves. It's so strong that it's suffocating, and I only get a small feeling of what's going on inside you."

I shook my head. "I'm fine," I said.

A lie.

She shook her head. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing you, or anyone else, can help me with," I said, glancing at Nightwing. Curious for one of the first times in my life, I asked, "why do you keep looking at me?"

He didn't seemed surprised by this question.

"What were you saying, yesterday? About that friend."

I grimaced, hiding my face in my knees, shaking my head. I didn't want to talk about it.

"Okay," Miss Martian sighed, "how about we ask something different?"

I peaked up at her. "But he wants to know," I said, glancing at Nightwing. Was there something about me that he didn't like? I was average; normal. I wondered if he thought I was a burden. Maybe, considering how I was acting.

I couldn't help myself; this was just one of those days that memories invaded and consumed me completely. I'd had to skip school on several occasions because of this and lie about my whereabouts. The bathroom excuse had landed me a prescription for a few months about a year back: I'd flushed them down the toilet, every single one of them.

What I needed were antidepressants.

A lot of them.

"I... I've always gone to that place," I said finally, with difficulty. "Even after my friend's funeral. He... he was so nice. He always told me the place would be burnt down or demolished by the time we were in high school. I guess he was right." I smiled sadly. "You know, he didn't even make it into middle school. He was so much smarter than me, too. He always knew what to do. He knew what to eat and what to play and what to think about and what not to do and what rules we ought to disobey."

I sniffed and quickly grabbed my rock-hard pillow and hid behind it, waiting for the tears to come. When they didn't, my heart sunk.

A break down was on its way.

I took the pillow away and mumbled, "sorry."

"No, no, it's okay," Miss Martian said, smiling at me.

Nightwing said nothing; he just stared at me. I glanced at him again, and said, "did I do something wrong?"

He raised an eyebrow in question.

"You... you keep giving me this look..." I was really uncomfortable. I looked at Miss Martian. "They never found the bodies. But everyone knows their dead," I paused and shook my head, "I think you would have liked him."

"What was his name?" Nightwing asked, his masked face eerily blank.

"Richard," I said softly, "Richard Grayson. But I called him Dicky. I was the only one allowed to do that."

The heroes exchanged looks. I must have said something wrong.

The alien sensed this too and took her hand away from my shoulder and instead linked her fingers through mine. "Arianna?"

"Yeah?" I asked, biting my lip.

"Why do you feel guilty?"

I hid my face again. "I don't want to talk about it."

I could feel Nightwing's frown. "We'd like to know more," he told me.

I looked at him, but said nothing. Feeling strange, I swung my legs carefully over the side of my bed.

"If you'd met him," I said softly, speaking quietly so my voice wouldn't crack, "you would have loved him. He was loyal, determined and funny." I cleared my throat as I managed to stand up for just a moment before falling back onto the bed.

"Really?" Miss Martian asked.

"Yes," I said, "he always knew best. But then..." I shook my head.

"You still miss him?" she asked.

"Of course," I said, "whenever he came here with his family he'd always come and see me. He was an acrobat, and he was really good." I looked up and tried to stand again, and managed a few wobbly steps before the alien caught me for the second time in two days.

"I think you should get some rest."

"I think I should go to school," I muttered. "What time is it?"

"One in the afternoon," Nightwing answered.

I narrowed my eyes at the door in front of me. My body was screaming at me to rest, to send the pain away, but pain held the guilt at bay. Just like the painkillers had. But I needed to go back to school.

"I want to go home," I said, looking at Miss Martian.

"Okay," she said uncertainly, "your parents are right outside." As she watched me stumble away, I knew that Nightwing was watching me, too.

I wondered why he kept looking at me the way he did.

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**A/N: thanks again! do you like it so far? yes? no? too early to tell? :D**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: I don't know what that means...anyone want to explain that one to me? (look below)**

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Life returned to normal as soon as I got back to the school two days after the hospital released me. Or, as normal is it could get.

My burns, except for my leg, had been pretty mild, but I had to keep the bandages on for a good three or for weeks: apparently they'd soaked the bandages in a cream with a huge complicated medical name that healed burns faster than normal and left faint scars. So I walked into school Thursday morning from neck to toe in bandages: my fingers were free but were still wrapped up. Everyone kept staring at me, even though I'd been on the news: being saved by heroes was a big deal, to everyone but me.

I just wanted life to go back to the way it was.

The first thing that happened on Thursday was my best friend Sadie Kryt running up to me and giving me a hug so tight I thought my ribs would snap. Sadie had short red hair, lots of freckles, and wore designer clothes. But she was willing to throw a punch where something concerned her or something close to concerning her and often wound up getting in trouble for fights she hadn't started. "Where were you?" she asked me, taking my backpack from me as we headed towards my locker. I didn't like that everyone was staring.

It always made me feel as if I'd done something terribly wrong.

"Home," I said, "I got burnt, remember?"

She nodded, "did you meet any of those sidekicks?"

I nodded. "They just asked me questions."

Sadie nodded and left the subject alone; she was a good friend, being able to do that. I would talk to her, and only her, about things when I felt that the time was right.

My first period was a free one, so of course, I went to the library. I had to remember to take my pain meds during first, or else I'd be moaning all day long. The library was my second favorite place to be, ever. I helped Miss Betty, the sixty-something-year-old librarian organize books. She'd only smiled at me at the sight of my wounds and had gone back to word after muttering good morning to me. Next, was math. The teacher asked me what happened, and I'd said that I'd been at the wrong place at the wrong time. The class wanted all the details, but what could I tell them? Nothing. I that was all I told them and finished my homework in record time. Next was science. I barely even paid attention to what we were doing. I was sixteen; I needed to pay attention in this class, but today just wasn't going to be one of those days where I did good in class. After managing to get through that class while, of course, everyone stared at me, I went to English. I had that class with Sadie. Luckily for me, she kept everyone away and made sure all I got were glances. Then I went to lunch. But instead of eating in the cafeteria with everyone else, I ate in the library; Miss Betty often allowed me to do that. I'd known her forever, and she was as much as a friend as Sadie was. Next, I went to my history class. I don't remember what we did: I think I fell asleep, but no one disturbed me.

Last, but not least, I went to the orchestra room. Upon my mother's request, I was put in a class all by myself with no teacher and no other students; it was just me and my cello. Mom and Dad said I was the best, but when they stared at me like everyone else did when I played, it made me feel as if I had done something wrong, so I played all by myself. You could hear me play because the walls in my high school were so thin, but everyone always told me they didn't mind. I often wondered if they were lying about that.

I grabbed my cello out of the room with all the other sting instruments and dragged it out to the middle of the floor. Sitting down in one of those hard chairs, I took out my cello, something I treasured dearly, and began to play.

When I played, I closed my eyes and just made it up as I went. I could read sheet music just fine, but I liked making up my own songs, better. They were often sad, really sad. A cheerleader had once come up to me and had asked me what a song was about last year. I had been too shy to answer and had walked away.

Now, though, I wasn't shy. I felt myself relaxing, and the guilt fading. The cello was the only real thing that could heal me, not cure me, but heal me. I knew the students in other classrooms had stopped what they were doing to listen, but since they weren't watching me, it didn't really matter much. Sometimes I even cried when I played, but Sadie had always said that crying is good for you.

I stopped abruptly when I heard the door open. I turned around and was shocked to see a pretty blonde girl smile at me, close the door, and sit on the floor against the wall.

"Who...?" I trailed off.

"I'm just visiting this school for a few days," she said, smiling at me. She seemed nice enough. "I'm here to hear you play."

I looked at my feet, biting my lip.

"Is it something I said?"

"I don't play for people."

"Well, close your eyes and pretend I'm not here. I'm just here to observe, okay?"

I nodded, closed my eyes, and did what she said.

I resumed the song I had played and I heard her gasp, but kept going. I went on for another ten minutes before ending it.

I opened my eyes to see that she was grinning huge and wide. She began clapping. She looked to be a little older than me. "That was brilliant!" she said, getting up. "I'm Artemis, by the way."

I nodded. "Arianna."

She held out her hand and I shook it.

"Well, I've got to get back to my supervisor," she said to me, "you were amazing! Bye!"

I watched her leave, slightly confused as the bell rang for school to get out. I began to play again, even as students trickled in silently to hear me play and grab their instruments. I ignored them, taking Artemis' advice. I liked her name. It reminded me of the hero, Artemis. Who had sent her? Why had she listened to me?

I didn't want to think.

So I just kept on playing.

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**A/N: Thank you sosososososo much for reading (and thanks to you who followed!) :)**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Thank you for the lovely reviews!**

**To answer some Q's:  
* I dont know the timeline. I watched half of S1 and then kinda drifted from it and then i found Nightwing again. so the original team is there robin is just 18 and now Nightwing. No clones, no one ever died, NO. I'm sorry if thats what you like, but since i know NOTHING about it other than if i love something like that too much to care what in the universe they're talking about i will READ it :D  
* apologies about my grammar and misspellings... i sometimes miss them when i read them over.  
* ALSO. if this is confusing AM SO SORRY. maybe not so sorry. BUT I HOPE THIS HELPS.**

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**At Mount Justice...**

Artemis waltzed in to the main room out of the zeta tube, unusually quiet upon arrival. Everyone on the team stared at her. Dick held out his hand and Artemis handed him the top button from her shirt that held the secret camera she'd put on before seeing the girl from the burning building.

"You okay?" Wally asked her as she stood next to him, crossing her arms over her chest and staring sadly at the screen which had Arianna's picture, bandaged and bruised but walking. She had shiny dark brown hair that pulled back into a pony tail, her skin was a healthy color, she was petite, but dark shadows rimmed her eyes.

"Not really," she said. To the ex- Boy Wonder, she asked, "so she thinks you're dead?"

He only nodded as he plugged in the camera into the computer and on came the video. There she was, shocked to see a stranger. And then she mumbled, "I don't play for people" and then started playing with her eyes closed.

Even Wally was speechless by the time the video was over. And Wally was _never_ speechless. The cello playing had been so beautiful that Megan had nearly cried. Kaldur and Connor were truly awed. Dick, though, had his fists clenched. Memories swam in his heart. He remembered meeting her at the circus for the first time, how she had marveled at everything she'd seen. She'd been so happy, so light.

It disturbed him greatly, what she was feeling and what she was blaming herself for. He'd wished that he'd been able to tell her that he was okay

It had never been her fault.

When she was done playing, she looked shy, withdrawn. Dick remembered a bouncy little Ari before his parents' deaths. Now... she could barely look anyone in the eye. At the hospital, both times, he'd scrutinized her behind his mask. When he had seen her in the building, it had been an automatic response: his friend was hurt, and she needed help.

At the hospital, when the doctors had been about to render her fingers useless in heavy bandages that would take months to fully heal Ari, he had done it himself: as a child, she never sat still, she always had her fingers working. And knowing that she played the cello, she'd want the use of her fingers.

_Ari_.

That had been her nickname, before...

before she'd witnessed his parents' deaths, and presumably his. But he hadn't died that day: he'd only gotten shot and had bled out enough to make it seem that he had died in the tent after the show he'd put on, and then Batman had found him.

Arianna had run away; he'd heard her scream for help. To help her friend. That was what she had said. He struggled not to remember that night, and succeeded. Sighing, he sat down in a swivel chair and gazed up at the paused video.

"I wish I could tell her," he said. The rest of the team knew who he was. All his life, as Robin and now as Nightwing, he'd wanted to tell her. She hadn't laughed at him when she had met him at the circus and called him weird: she'd merely smiled and asked him what he did. He'd told her he did acrobatics with his parents and wanted to do it forever, and, being around eight or nine at the time, she'd agreed with him.

Dick remembered seeing her face almost glowing in the audience the first time she'd seen his performance. As soon as he and his parents had been done that first time, she'd escaped the stands and, to everyone's surprise and wonderment, had ran up to him and hugged him, announcing to the rest of the circus that he was the "bestest friend anyone could have ever asked for".

From that day on, they'd stayed friends.

He'd left two weeks later, and had come back four months afterward. When he did a different act, she'd been even more thrilled than she had been the first time. She'd met his parents and they had loved her dearly, saying how lovely she'd been and how nice she seemed.

The third time had been the last, and it was the most painful because it had been the last time she'd seen him

Dick quickly stopped thinking about it and returned to present time. He faced his team, still in the chair.

"It was never her fault," he said, standing again. The others knew exactly what he was talking about.

"Does she have any friends?" Wally wondered.

"One," Artemis answered, "a girl named Sadie. Quite the fighter, I heard."

Kaldur nodded thoughtfully.

Connor remained mute. But you could tell he was thinking hard.

Megan smiled tenderly. "I think Batman would allow you to, if you think it is right."

And, as always with perfect timing, Batman walked in.

"Allow you to do what?" he asked, eying the other unmasked heroes.

"Tell Arianna that he's alive," Wally said.

"No" was all they got when he turned to leave.

"She deserves to know!" Artemis shouted after him, but he was in the zeta tube and out of Mount Justice before she could hear his reply.

"You should still tell her," Kaldur said, mirroring Megan's smile. "If she still misses you that much..."

"Yes," Connor agreed suddenly.

Dick nodded. She did deserve to know. No one should have to torment themselves every day as she did. How could she have prevented it? There was nothing she could have done. Running away had been the best thing for him, really: notifying him of the danger, he'd managed to get out with his life.

For that, he actually wanted to thank her.

But hadn't been able to.

He looked at her picture again, frowning.

Standing, he said, "let's go find something the fight, shall we?"

Megan nodded as they headed off to get ready to find trouble. "You will tell her when you are ready," she said reassuringly before flying off towards her room.

Dick was left alone; he was already geared up, ready to go.

He couldn't help wondering when the right time was. Hoping it would be soon, he began searching for missions, while keeping Arianna's picture on one of the smaller screens.

_Ari._

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**A/N: ...and reading. thank you for reviewing an reading! :)**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: thank you for reading!**

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My normalcy lasted only eight days.

Eight.

I was walking out of school when I saw him.

Nightwing.

He was running towards a man with a giant canon-looking thing. I didn't scream, though. I just watched as more people shoved past me to see the action. I saw Miss Martian, and Superboy, Artemis and Kid Flash. I wondered if they had ever lost a battle before. This guy looked crazy to me: just plain old crazy. He had wispy gray here, strange eyes, and was hunched over. And he was laughing. As I was shoved aside, I nearly lost my balance and quickly moved away from the crowd and began to run away from the school.

I didn't want to be under that gaze again, not like how I'd been in the hospital. I didn't want to see any of them, not even Miss Martian, who seemed kinder than any other human I'd ever met.

Well, besides Dicky.

I almost cried when I remembered his name as I was about to cross the street. But then the weird old man shot the canon at Superboy, and he went flying backwards, against a wall. He crashed through it, but he didn't get up.

Superboy always got up.

I dropped my things, no longer aware of what I was doing. My body screamed at me to go home, to sleep, to let the heroes fight this guy. I saw that he was aiming his canon at Nightwing, and Dicky flashed through my mind. I didn't want to think about him; I had to go home. I had no place here. I had no interest in getting in their way, or to watch them win, or anything. But it was as if something else was propelling me to think otherwise.

And I took off running. He turned when he saw me and opened his mouth to probably yell, but I shoved him as hard as I could, and he fell backwards just as the man fired the canon, and the...bullet, I guess, slammed me backwards. I heard the cracking of my ribs before I could feel the pain searing through my body as I felt myself bounce a bit as I hit the pavement, rolling down a set of stairs and just laying there at the bottom.

It was so hard to breathe, I really wished the blast had just knocked me out. A hand went to my side, and I flinched, biting my lip so hard blood dribbled down my chin. Maybe about three ribs had been broken? I didn't know. I felt stupid for doing what I'd done, but at least he hadn't gotten hit.

Right?

I inched my way against the wall that acted as a wall-slash-railing for the concrete and tried not to scream. I could barely breathe. I needed to get out of there, but I couldn't crawl; crawling was much harder than breathing. My hand remained hovering over my ribs as I heard cheers erupt from above and closed my eyes. At least people couldn't stare at me here.

I began feeling sluggish, and wondered what that strange little man had shot me, or had intended to shoot Nightwing with. I didn't regret what I'd done, but I felt like a fool.

So why had I done it? And what did Dicky have to do with any of this?

_Dicky._

The guilt was coming over me in intense waves; I felt as if I was becoming unraveled and struggled to keep myself together, but the more I tried the more I felt like vomiting. So I just stayed still, my eyes squeezed shut, my teeth digging into my lip, blood staining my jacket. I looked down at myself, and the world began tilting. I rolled over on my side, the side where my ribs were fine, and tried breathing in and out, to calm myself, but broken ribs don't make that simple process quite that simple. My heart was beating so loudly in my ears that I thought I might go deaf.

Among the cheers, I heard shouting. To my astonishment, it was Sadie.

"WHERE IS SHE?" I heard her screech. "DAMMIT, WHERE'S ARIANNA?"

I opened my eyes and nearly vomited when the world spun violently, and I squeezed them shut again.

"SHE JUST SAVED YOUR SORRY ASS, FIND HER!"

I wondered if she was mad enough to hit Miss Martian or Kid Flash. I wanted to call out for help, but that would involve feelings that were unpleasant.

The guilt was intensifying by the second, though, as I heard worried murmurs from above.

Why couldn't they just leave me alone? I wanted to cry, very badly. I hadn't had my break down. If they saw me when that happened... people would just stare. I wanted my cello, I wanted to be alone, and I wanted Dicky.

_Grayson, Grayson, Grayson._

I chanted the name silently over and over, filling my swimming head with happy images and uplifting memories. I remembered the circus, I remembered spending time with him at the old factory after he preformed...

I hadn't realized I was crying because I was in too much pain to care.

"ARIANNA!"

I knew someone was standing over and opened my eyes, against my better judgment, to see Sadie kneeling down and putting a hand on my arm. "Arianna," she said softly, "you're going to be okay."

I kept crying and grasped her hand, tightly, and she held it. "HEY, YOU HEROES," she shouted over her shoulder, "GET YOUR ASSES OVER HERE AND SAVE HER ALREADY!" Turning back to me, she whispered, "they're going to take you to... to, wherever it is that they go. But they said they'll bring you back, okay?"

I shook my head. "Sadie," I gasped, seeing Miss Martian kneeling over me also, but with a syringe in hand. I squirmed, but I whimpered. And bit my lip even harder.

"Hold still," the alien soothed, but I didn't want to be sedated and wake up...wherever.

I opened my mouth to protest when Sadie moved out of the way, but then Nightwing took her place.

Confusion overwhelmed the mess that were my emotions as the urge to vomit intensified when he leaned over me, taking his hand in mine.

"You... I did it for..." Miss Martian had stuck the needle in my side, the one with my broken ribs.

And I screamed. She quickly injected me with the sedative and I could feel it taking over, calming my heartbeat and my raging emotions.

"I... did it for..." I struggled, but managed to finish my sentence as he squeezed my hand, "...you were going to...get hurt."

I didn't get to say anymore as the pain vanished, and I was falling into a dark, quiet abyss, where nothing haunted me.

Where I felt _free_.

* * *

**A/N: please review, opinions are welcome! :)**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: ah! please review! i know you're ALL reading this... hahahahahaha**

**Thank you for Readin and STUFF!  
****YOU ALL ARE AMAZING! ! ! ! ! ! ! !  
You probably won't love this chapter, but oh well.**

* * *

"How come we have to bring this thing along?" Kid Flash whined to Sadie as he dragged it into the living room and propped it up against the couch next to Arianna's friend. Even though she had no idea where she was or long she and her wounded friend would be here, she seemed perfectly fine with it. Well, not fine: pissed off would be the right word, but otherwise, she seemed fine. The same could not be assumed for the other girl, who was being tended to. She scooted to the edge of the cushion and took the cello out of its case, examining it for damage. Of course, the dark-wood instrument was perfect and undamaged. Letting a sigh of relief escape her lips, she put it back in the case and stood up to face Kid Flash, hands on her hips.

"Because Arianna's going to need it when she wakes up," she said, frowning. "It's how she copes."

"Copes with what?" she heard and turned her heard and saw Nightwing and Miss Martian walk in.

"Oh, goody, the man himself is here!" she said, glaring. "You're going to thank her, right? For saving your ass?"

Nightwing glared right back at her, but Miss Martian just smiled. "Of course we will."

"Not what I meant," Sadie said, jabbing a finger into the ex- Boy Wonder's chest. He looked at her sharply. "_You_ have to say it _all by yourself_."

"Don't think I don't know that," he hissed. "Now what's this about coping?"

Sadie sighed dramatically and gestured to the cello. "When I met her, in eighth grade, she was best cellist in, well, the area. You know, she has changed a little since then, considering her friend's death and all."

Seeing the surprise on the alien's face, she shrugged. "Oh, yeah, she told me about that. It took me months to figure out why she was the way she is! And since you already know, you should also know that if you bring him up she's going to need her cello. When she's upset, she plays. Every time she plays, she's thinking of him."

Nightwing didn't say anything. Sadie narrowed her eyes at him. "When she did tell me, all she said was that she met him at the circus and that he was the nicest boy she'd ever met and probably will ever met. He even had a nickname for her! But I don't know that one, because when she told me that she saw his parents die she started sobbing. And I haven't asked it about since."

Turning back to Kid Flash, she said, "I don't know what's more to the story or what that boy's name was or it's still torturing her, but I know that cello, right over there, keeps her sane. You know she skips school from time to time?"

"She does?" she turned and saw that blonde archer, Artemis, who seemed strikingly familiar.

"Yeah," Sadie said, "some days she just can't take it...whatever _it_ is. So I cover for her when she gets back. I do it a lot, but she usually comes up with a story."

Seeing Nightwing's clenched fists, she asked him, a little more gently, "have you ever seen her break down?"

When he shook his head, she turned to Artemis. "I've seen it once. Once." She shook her head, losing her angry edge. "At first, all she did was cry. Silently. But then the sobs came... and she started screaming. I stayed with her, in that old toy factory, for an entire day. Told me used to be their hangout or something. I just held her as she screamed. She kept asking him to come back, and then she kept saying over and over how she should have done something. And you know what I think?"

"What?" she turned to see Aqualad and Superboy come in. She frowned and choice to ignore them for the time being.

"I think she needs help. You know, she went to a shrink a couple times. But she didn't tell him anything: she just sat there and glared," she paused to sigh and scratch the top of her head, "Arianna has gone through hell, and she's been hiding it. If you could help her..." she trailed off, and turned to Artemis once again. "She's going to have another break down, and afterwards, she's going to want her cello. And you know that thing that little hunchback hit her with? Kid here told me that it's designed to make you a mess, emotionally. Do you know how much worse she's going to be when she wakes up? I know you've got it all out of her system, the gas that she breathed in when the bullet, or missile, or whatever the bloody hell he hit her with smashed into her, but she might not recover! Ever. Now, where is she? She won't like waking up here."

"This way," Artemis said, and she followed her into the medical bay. There she was, lying in what resembled a dental chair. Her whole torso was bandaged, up to her neck. Her arms were bare, revealing white, barely scarred skin. She was wearing loose sweatpants, but she could still see the bandage coming over her hips. Her hair was loose and for once, she looked calm and peaceful. More so than she looked when she played her beloved cello. Her face was clean of the blood from earlier; it was a strange habit, biting her lips when she was nervous or scared. At first she had been convinced that her friend had coughed up blood because of internal bleeding.

Sadie ran over to her and took one of her hands in her own. "Hey, Arianna," she said quietly, aware that Nightwing and Artemis were behind her. "Wake up! They healed you!"

A small groan came from Arianna's lips and her eyes fluttered open sleepily. Groggy, she sat up, her hands flying to her side.

"Three broken ribs, one cracked, one more bruised," Sadie informed her, smiling.

"Sadie..." tears welled up in the other's girl's eyes.

"It's okay! I got your cello."

Arianna nodded and looked down at herself. "...a shirt?" she mumbled confused at the bandage that were like a sleeveless t-shirt.

"Ribs, remember?" Sadie grinned. "How are you holding up?"

Any sign of calm was erased from her face as she started remembering again. Clutching her friend's arm tightly, she wailed, "I can feel it! It hurts, it hurts, make it stop!" Tears began slipping out of her eyes.

"Don't fight it," Sadie said, sitting next to her. "Please, you know it makes it worse."

Arianna's eyes snapped to the two heroes in the room. "I..." she said, looking away from Nightwing. Sadie narrowed her eyes, knowing exactly what the girl next to her was thinking.

"What you did was not stupid," she said, glaring at Nightwing, who was expressionless. "You saved his sorry ass. Can you believe that? You saved Nightwing! How cool is that, Arianna?"

More tears slipped down her cheeks and dampened her bandages as she struggled to breathe, shaking her head, grasping her friend's arm tightly. "I thought of him," she began whispering, "whatever that guy hit me with... when I saw that he was aiming for... I thought of him! Him!" she leapt off the chair, much to everyone's surprise and stumbled towards the doors.

But Miss Martian was waiting.

"No!" she began screaming as Miss Martian wrapped her arms around the girl who had collapsed in a heap. "No, no, no!"

"Let her be!" Sadie shouted.

The alien didn't, though. She held her as Arianna began sobbing.

Without warning, the girl leapt away again. Her eyes were wide, her fingers were trembling, and, for the first time, everyone got to see what was really going on inside of her: this was no glimpse, this was her showing her pain to everyone, unwillingly and without control. She began shouting and sobbing and crying all at once, but Nightwing seemed to know what to do.

Sadie watched in shock, while the rest of the heroes came in and watched with concern as he took her by the wrists and pulled her to a stop.

"Calm down," he said as she slumped to the floor, her back against the wall. She kept shaking her head, her eyes darting everywhere, avoiding his own. "Please," he whispered, "Arianna."

* * *

I couldn't stop myself from crying. The pain, the guilt, the depression: it was too much to handle. I tried getting out of Nightwing's grasp, but he just stayed put, right in front of me.

Dicky was all I could think about. And it wasn't just the bloody memories that haunted me: it was everything I'd ever known about him, everything we'd ever said and ever done together I was reliving all at once.

And why was Nightwing keeping me in once place? Didn't I bother him?

He was shushing me, trying to calm me.

"It was all my fault," I said, and hiccupped violently. Everyone stepped closer to hear me. Sadie was suddenly by my side, glaring daggers at the hero in front of me. "It was all my fault."

This was why I needed to be alone during break downs. Because if I wasn't careful, people would know. Sadie only knew a little... and I was certain that I couldn't stop myself from telling these people everything.

"It wasn't," Nightwing whispered. I stared at him for only a moment. Did he know what I was even talking about?

"But it WAS!" I shrieked, trying to hide my face from everyone else, but only succeeded in getting the hero in letting go of my wrists, and instead Sadie held me tight as I clung to the girl. "It WAS my fault! I SAW IT HAPPEN!"

Sadie looked at Nightwing and mouth the words "thank you". I ignored this and looked up at Nightwing. It was hard to look someone in the eye when you were trying to hide because you couldn't stop yourself from crying.

It was like a dam had burst inside my head.

"I was there! The third time after the show!" I shouted. "I was going to say hi to him! I saw..." I nearly choked, but went on. "A man was there, I saw him shoot his parents! I knew Dicky was in there! I screamed, I thought I could distract him. And then I heard the shots... I ran away as he killed him!" I began sobbing again, turning away from Sadie and curling into a ball. "I could have done something! I should have, it was wall my fault, and now he's dead! He's dead and, and—"

"It was never your fault," Nightwing said suddenly.

I stopped shouting and looked at him, stunned. "You can't know," I began, but he grabbed my arm and pulled me closer so our faces were near.

"I can know, because I do know, and you have nothing to be sorry for."

I was confused. I began wiping away the tears, but it was too late. Everyone knew.

"You... how... no," I stuttered, "no!"

"Yes," he said, shaking me gently. I could see defeat on his face. He glanced at Aqualad, who nodded once. Miss Martian and Artemis did the same. Turning back to face me, he said, "you have nothing to be sorry for."

"I do!" I protested. How could he be telling me this? Didn't he listen?

"You don't!" he sighed in frustration. "You didn't get them all killed, Arianna," he said.

"What...?" I had no idea if I was just hearing things or if I was crazy or if he was. My head was spinning. My heart was hurting. It hurt so much to breathe, but I didn't care.

"You screaming and running away... that saved me."

I blinked, sitting up, but he pulled me closer to him, his eyes boring into mine intensely. What was that in his eyes? Sorrow? Pain? I was too upset to try to figure it out.

"Huh?" I took a shaky breath and I bit my lip again, making blood dribble down my chin once again. He frowned.

"When will you stop doing that?" he muttered.

"I... who're...?" no words could keep up with my racing mind.

Slowly, Nightwing reached up and pulled off his mask, handing it to me.

I couldn't stop staring. I couldn't tear my eyes away from what... who... was in front of me. I began shaking again, more so than before as I twisted the mask in my hands. "You...you," I sputtered, my tears forgotten.

He had blue eyes, happy yet sad blue eyes. He wore an exhausted half-smile, which made me stop breathing for just a moment. I raised a shaking hand to his face and nearly jumped when my hand brushed his hair.

"You're dead," she whispered, biting her lip again.

"No, I'm not," he said.

"D—Dick..."

He nodded. "Hello, Ari."

Before I could cry, scream, sob, shout, or try to run, he pulled me into his arms, and I could hear him repeat the same thing over and over as a syringe entered my arm and was tossed aside. I became sleepy, my emotions slipping away.

I was so confused.

"It's okay," he kept saying as I faded away, "you can rest now, it was never your fault, Ari."

* * *

**A/N: review! what do you think?**

**Writing this made me sad.**


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: CONFUSION ENDS HERE! All we be explained (apologies!)**

*************I REWROTE THE CHAPTER BEFORE THIS BECAUSE THERE WERE SOOOO MANY MISTAKES!**

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Dick stared at the girl now sedated in his arms. He was sitting in the living room, his mask still in her hands. The rest of the teens had done the same. Sadie was confused beyond belief. "You want to start from the beginning?" she asked him.

He nodded, sighing. He wasn't just explaining his past to Sadie: he was explaining it to his team, too.

"My parents and I were the Flying Graysons. They worked for a circus, the one that comes to Gotham three or four times a year. We were acrobats, one of the best groups in the country. Arianna came to the circus for the first time and saw our act. She was so different, and instead of calling any of the circus folk strange, she just loved the performances and the people. Everyone liked her, even though no one knew her. Her parents were okay with her being there; they're very open minded people." Dick shook his head slightly, shifting Arianna so she was now next to him, her head against his shoulder.

The others remained quiet.

"We met, before that act. She was so happy to meet us, she could barely contain herself. We were friends right away; after the show, I found an old warehouse that had been turned into a toy factory, now abandoned. We played forte in it: it was so much fun. A few days later, we had to leave. I made her a promise that we would come back soon. And we did. The second time she saw me, she ran up to me and knocked me down while in the process of giving me a hug."

"She sounds so different," Sadie mumbled, looking at Arianna. "What a total mess she is now."

Dick nodded, running a hand through his hair. "Again, we left a few days after. The third time was the last time we got to see each other... well, the last time she got to see me. It was after the show. This Mafia guy, who was stealing money from my show, tried blackmailing my parents into helping him. I was there with them when he asked. When they refused, he shot them, with no warning. He was about to shoot me when Ari screamed, and while he was distracted, he shot me, but he didn't kill me. I managed to get away, and then Batman found me. I asked him if I could fight crime along side him, and he'd said yes. So I became the first Robin."

"Now, explain her," Sadie said.

"When the bodies couldn't be found, the Flying Graysons were to be believed dead. Ari, of course, was devastated and took it the hardest. Before middle school, she had always been a loner."

"You kept tabs on her," Artemis said softly.

He nodded. "Right away, she blamed herself for it. Even at that young of an age, she felt guilty for something that she couldn't have stopped. She saved my life, actually, by distracting the guy. If she hadn't, I'd be dead."

He nodded to Megan to explain the emotion mess that Arianna was in.

"She grew depressed right afterward," she explained slowly, "but she hid it will. From what I've been able to tell today, she's been tormenting herself about your family's death since that very night. She should have told someone, but that wouldn't have helped her much. She still would've thought that it was her fault that her friend was dead."

"And how do you know this, Miss Martian?" Sadie asked, crossing her arms over her chest.

"I read her mind," the alien answered. "Don't worry," she said quickly, "I didn't stay in long! I just had to know the details."

"Go on," Connor said.

Megan nodded hesitantly. "With time, her personality shifted into what she is now. By avoiding therapy, not taking antidepressants, and the constant self-tormenting, she was destroying her sanity, too. She didn't mean to. So when she was drugged, and her ribs were broken, it overwhelmed her. She'd gotten so weak over time that she... well, it's like a dam in her mind. The waters are the memories and thoughts that torture her and the dam is the wall she's been trying to build over time. But the dam had cracks: I got past it easily. As you can see, it burst."

She paused to look at Arianna, who was now awake and sitting up, silent, her eyes blank and lifeless as she listened to them tell her story.

"Playing the cello seemed like the only outlet she could find. While her fragility increased, so did her self-awareness. It's why she can't look us in the eye, it's why she hates people staring at her. When people look at her like that, she thinks she's done something wrong, because that's how the police looked at you, isn't it?"

Arianna nodded, keeping her eyes down, not looking at anyone. She stayed next to Dick, even though it was obvious that she was keeping silent in order to control herself.

"That's why her school has her play by herself. It's why she got nervous when Artemis watched her play." Arianna nodded again.

"She never told anyone because she still thinks she's a horrible person. She can't accept that she couldn't have done anything because it's not what she's been telling herself for years. She hurt herself more than Dick's fake death did."

Arianna looked up, a frown on her face.

"Sadie," Artemis said, "she told you what she did a few years ago because her mental defenses were so weak. She had tot ell someone; I'm pretty sure that if she hadn't, she would have done something to herself, worse than barely making her way through life."

Wally, Kaldur, and Connor kept silent.

Megan went on speaking. Now she was speaking directly to Arianna. "Please listen to me, because it's the truth. You need to change in order to become strong again, like you were when you were little. I don't know why you don't try and justify what you did, though. It's as if you want to be guilty. What I can't figure out is why you never moved on. Lots of people feel guilty but they return to almost normal lives."

Arianna shrugged, looking at Dick, flinching when he looked back, but she kept her gaze. "Because if I moved on," she said shakily, "I'm...I was... afraid that I would forget him."

Megan understood and smiled softly. "But you never forget people like him, do you?"

"Now I can't," she said, "I... and to think Dicky is _Nightwing_."

"Dicky?" Wally echoed, smirking.

"Yes," she said quietly, her smile fading. "Sadie..."

"You don't have to explain, Arianna," she grinned at her best friend, "I made the mistake of pushing you too far to find out what the hell was bothering you."

The girl shrugged.

* * *

"So what happens now?" I asked after a moment of silence. "I know you're identites...and so does Sadie."

I wanted to hide as I felt Dick's eyes on my and nearly succeeded before he smiled at me.

"Yes, this is a problem." We all looked up and I almost yelped when I saw Batman standing there. I started inching away to hide, but Megan saw.

"Dick, she wants to run," she told him. I was helpless as he dragged me back next to him. They were serious about me changing.

"I wouldn't call these two a problem," Artemis said, glaring. "They could always be a part of the team."

"And do what?" I mumbled, looking down when everyone stared at me.

So I wasn't a horrible person? So it wasn't my fault? Dick was alive, sitting next to me, and I was still holding his mask in my hands. I looked down at it sadly. All this time, he had been Robin, and now he was Nightwing. I couldn't believe it. Even though I felt better, I still didn't like it when people stared at me.

It still made me feel as if I'd done something wrong.

"I could punch people for you," Sadie offered. I smiled up at her.

"You wouldn't get in trouble for it," I said, and she laughed. I laughed, too.

It felt so good to laugh. When I realized Dick was grinning at me, I looked away.

"What?" I finally asked him. It was so strange, no guilt holding you down. I felt feather light, and the only thing keeping me on the ground was Dick; gravity had nothing to do with it.

"I like it when you laugh," he said.

"Hey, Bird-Boy," Sadie said suddenly, "how come you just didn't leave her alone, like Batman over here probably wanted?"

Batman was glaring at the two of us, but Sadie didn't seemed bothered by him in the slightest.

"I couldn't," he said, looking at his mentor. "I felt bad about it, but it was easy at first. But when we were at the hospital, it got harder."

"So that was why you kept looking at me like that?" I mumbled, looking up into his blue eyes.

There were happy now.

He nodded.

"Well, you gave up normalcy by coming here," Batman said to Sadie, "and you, Richard, took normalcy away from Arianna."

"Normal is boring!" Sadie smirked up at him. She jumped up, grabbed my cello case, and dragged it over to me, sitting down next to me. "You haven't played it," she said softly.

I looked at it for only a moment before getting the cello out of the case and positioned myself properly.

"I don't play for people," I mumbled, embarrassed.

"Play for your friends, then," Megan said brightly. I smiled shyly back at her.

They were all still looking at me. I looked at Batman. "What would I do?"

"She could just live here," Artemis offered. Wally grinned.

"Yeah! We could train her and everything!"

I frowned, looking at Nightwing. "I'm not so sure about that," I mumbled, looking away, "does Dicky need saving again?"

Artemis, Wally, and Sadie bursted into maniacal fits of laughter.

"That was the greatest!" Wally said, clutching his side.

"You'd be good at it," Kaldur said, "you saved his life without any training."

"That reminds me," Batman said, interrupting our good time, "why did you save him, when you didn't know it was him?"

I shrugged, embarrassed again. I wished they would stop staring at me. "Dicky just popped into my head," I said quietly, "And then it was like... instinct, or something."

Dick grinned at me. "See? She's perfect, she and Sadie both! Now, will you play for us?"

I gulped, and looked at Artemis.

"Remember what I said in school," the blonde archer said to me. I nodded, realizing that it should have been obvious: the hair, the name.

I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and began to play.

I wasn't playing the same song I usually played, though: it wasn't sad or dark. It was light, it flowed nicely, and it began filling up the space where guilt had been only minutes before.

I didn't know how long I played for, but when I stopped, everyone was clapping. I hid my face in Dick's shoulder, my cheeks turning red.

"They're all looking at me," I said.

"But you didn't do anything wrong," he said, smiling down at me. Sadie pulled me away from him and squished me in a tight hug.

"I can't say I trust you, Bird-Boy," she told him, letting go of me.

"Why not?" I asked her.

"Because! He could have at least told you he was alive!"

I nodded, and turned to Batman, but all he said before leaving was, "I ordered him not to."

"Well, maybe you should've lightened up a little!" Sadie shouted after him, making Wally snicker.

"Like that'll ever happen," he said,

"Now what?" I asked again, putting my cello away.

"Let's go hang out," Megan suggested, "like normal people do."

"Normal?" Sadie and I said together. We looked at each other an laughd.

"Since when is there such a thing as _normal_?" I asked her.

She thought a moment, then shrugged.

Sadie hopped to her feet, pulling me with her. Dick glared at her as he stood up as well.

"Either ask her out on a date, or let us get get McDonald's," Sadie said. My jaw dropped.

"What?" I asked in disbelief.

But when I looked at Dick, I smiled. He didn't look very happy.

"Go on, ask her," Sadie said, smirking, "it's very obvious that you want to proclaim your love for her!"

"That's it!" Dick dashed after her, but she was too fast. She laughed as she went behind me again, sticking her tongue out in a childish fashion.

"Admit it!" she said smugly, "you like her! That's why you haven't given her a lecture about taking a missile, or bullet, or whatever for you!" she giggled as he folded his arms over his chest and sighed, rolling his eyes.

My cheeks turned red. "Is that true?" I asked quietly.

He nodded, sending Sadie a look before admitting, "yeah."

I beamed at him. I felt warm inside. This feeling was strange and new, but it felt nice.

"Ha! I knew it!" Sadie said with triumph, stepping beside me, "but we're still getting McDonald's." When he opened his mouth to say something, she grinned and said, "you can come too, but I'd drop the costume if I were you. People might think the drive-thru might need saving!"

"I have clothes for her in my room," Artemis said, "she looks about my size."

I smiled as Megan and Artemis led us out of the room.

Before I managed to get out, though, Nightwing caught my hand and took his mask back.

"Tell me this, before you go anywhere," he said in a low voice, "it wasn't your fault."

"It... wasn't...m-my fault," I said with difficulty. He grinned.

"We'll have to work on that," he said, but he allowed Sadie to pull me away, but not without having the last word.

"You can have her all to yourself later, Bird-Boy! But we're off to get the best french fries on the planet!

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**A/N: so sorry about the mistakes from the chapter before this, was not thinking straight... was distracted by a cat and food.**


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: sorry i havent updated in a long time! kinda lost interest in this for a while, and I'm just now trying to get back into it! thank you to everyone who has been favoriting and following and reading and such! means a lot!**

* * *

When we reached the drive thru, Sadie demanded that we eat as much as we could. "We'll have three orders of these... two orders of those... all large orders of fries! And milkshakes!" I had to laugh as Artemis stared as Sadie rattled off to the shocked cahier as she took our orders.

The archer paid for it, thankfully, and when we got back to Mount Justice, me and Sadie just sat in the living room and ate and ate and ate.

Sadie glared at Dick as she stuffed fries in her mouth, getting crumbs everywhere. "You can deal with it," she told him as she dropped an open ketchup packed onto the rug, not bothering to pick it up. Artemis chuckled. Wally just stared, sighing. She was proving to be difficult.

When I gave her a pointed look, Sadie only rolled her eyes. "Honestly, Arianna, I like being able to piss off your boyfriend and not get into trouble for it."

"He's not my boyfriend," I said.

"Oh, we'll see about that," Aretmis laughed when Sadie said this.

"You're impossbile," Dick grumbled.

"You've dealt with guys who can kick your ass, and you're calling _me_ difficult? Getting soft, Boy Wonder?"

Dick picked up a fry and threw it at her.

"FOOD FIGHT!" Sadie shouted. I ducked behind the couch for cover as the food fight started.

This wasn't going to be good.

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**A/N: leave a thought or two behind 'fore you leave! :D**


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: This was never meant to be a long story, not one of my main ones, anyway.**

**This was mainly an experiment. I have to say, it didn't go as planned, but I still liked it. I'm going to end it here, last chapter. I want to thank all of you for reading, and sorry for cutting this short :/ Now I'm back in the swing of things for the most part. I'm actually happy on where this story went. I wanted the characters to be like this but it's not my best.**

* * *

I woke up in the middle of the night. For a moment, I had no idea where I was. Then, slowly, I remembered.

I looked across the small room and smiled to see Sadie snoring softly, sleeping on her side, her hair covering her face. I shook my head to rid myself of the feeling of sleep. Waking up in the middle of the night... without feeling guilt...

was wonderful.

As quietly and carefully as I possibly could, I slung my legs over the side of the bed and allowed them to touch the freezing metal floor. It was nice to have him back... but he had never been gone in the first place.

I exited the room, the ringing silence unsettling after the first fun day I'd had in what felt like forever.

Creeping down the hall in borrowed plaid pajamas and a black t-shirt from the martian, shivering slightly, she found the turn that led to the kitchen. Hurrying over to the fridge - as she had been told she could by Wally - she opened it, but found nothing fancy foods she'd never even heard of before.

Closing it, I sighed.

So I wasn't a horrible person, then.

I had no reason to be guilty.

I grimaced.

But after all this time...

"Ah-hem."

I shrieked, whirling around to see Dick looking down at me, his arms crossed over his chest, eyebrow raised and a smile on his face.

"What are we doing up late at night, two in the morning?"

I scratched my head, feeling an odd pang of... not guilt...

I felt _sheepish_.

"The contents of your fridge are unrecognizable," I mumbled, turning away and going through the fridge again.

Why was I mumbling?

"What are you doing up?"

"Woke up." I wanted to make myself small. It usually worked.

But it looked like it wouldn't work this time.

"Ari, I need to talk to you."

"Is that why you're up?"

"Yeah."

"Why do you need to talk to me?"

I heard him sigh and turned around, letting the door of the whirring refrigerator shut. Had I done something wrong? Was he upset? Did he want me to go home? Because I liked it here.

I really did.

He ran a hand through his hair. "Look... I just want to talk about... you."

"Why?" my voice was squeaking. Why did I have to squeak? It made me sound stupid. No, not stupid... just... odd.

"I just want you to know something."

"What?" did he not want me around? _Had_ I done something wrong?

"If you ever want to talk, please, you can talk to me whenever you want."

I nodded slowly. I opened my mouth to say something, but he spoke first. I always did stupid things, always said stupid things.

"It was never your fault," he said, taking a step closer, his smile wavering a bit. "You're not to blame at all, Ari. Are we clear?"

Hadn't we discussed this earlier? They'd told me that, hadn't they? Why was he bringing this up again? Had I sad something to upset him earlier?

I nodded again.

"Ari, you've got to listen to me," his hands were on my shoulders, and his eyes were boring into mine, so I couldn't lie - couldn't look away. Good thing too, because it was a habit.

_"You have nothing to feel guilty about."_

I nodded again, this time with a little more confidence.

"Okay?"

I nodded again, and before it, something warm was pressing up against my lips.

It took me a while to realize that he was kissing me.

When he pulled away, I was cherry red.

So I hadn't done anything wrong.

He grinned. "That's just to make sure," he said. Taking my hand, he said "let's get you back to your room. You deserve the rest anyhow."

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**A/N: Thank you for reading this, I hope it wasn't too terrible ;)**


	11. Chapter 11

**piggythelaw: sorry it took me so long! But here it is!**

**This is the official end of "When Life is Wrong". Thank you for reading:)**

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_Epilogue_

* * *

Arianna sat on the foot of the bed, her legs crossed, with an elbow on her knee, her chin resting in her hand. Her eyes were unfocused, blank - staring at the screen in front of her. She was in one of Nightwing's safe houses, waiting for him to get back from patrol.

The twenty-three-year-old had been waiting for about four hours. He'd said he'd be back around nine o'clock - but it was past midnight now. It was hard to keep her eyes open, but she'd promised she'd stick around for a few days, spend a night in this safe house, and just hang out with him.

Sadie had dropped her off, after driving her from Gotham to Blüdhaven, and had promised her that if she Ari called she'd pick her up pronto.

It was currently "spring break" for the young woman, who was hardly even bored any more. She was just staring off her, mind blank. Dick had somehow gotten her into this _really weird school_ where she could take whatever class she wanted _as well as combat classes_.

Sometimes she forgot that his adoptive father _was_ Bruce Wayne.

Currently, she was in her fifth year (technically fourth, because in her fourth she'd dropped out for a time to spend most of it with Sadie at this weird college (there were a lot of people who seemed to know her there, and she had no idea what that was all about, but they were still nice), and her teacher - Dinah (she didn't come in often, about once a week) - had told her to go spend some time "away from home, with a boyfriend I know that you have".

It had left her bewildered, but what the hell, right?

Ari liked Dinah. She liked her a lot. And Dinah seemed to genuinely get along with her students (when she came to class, that is).

Arianna had refused - _utterly_ _refused_ - to go to a college to major with her cello. Not after everything - she hardly needed it anymore. And it was a wretched reminder of the chaotic feeling she'd suffered from. Dick had asked her what she'd wanted to do because of school. Being a musician hadn't been on her list.

She wanted to be a teacher, oddly.

Dick hadn't really understood, but he'd let her go anyways (he'd been overly paranoid about which school she would go to, but it wasn't like he could choose for her).

Now here she was.

Waiting.

Still waiting...

* * *

By the time Dick got back to the safe house, he was exhausted and ready to catch some Z's.

He shouldn't have been surprised to find Arianna sprawled out on his bed (she'd kicked the covers onto the floor), fast asleep, snoring loudly. But he was. And not many things surprised Richard Grayson.

He sat down, taking his mask off, wincing as he did so. His right shoulder blade had been nearly dislocated tonight - he felt kind of stupid for nearly getting beaten by a group of nearly twelve guys - and it hurt a _lot_.

His mask was in his hand as he stared down at the girl who was snoring loudly in front of him and had to resist the urge to burst out laughing.

He hadn't seen her a lot - being Nightwing was a lot harder than being Robin, apparently (...Poor Tim...) - and she'd had school. He'd heard weekly from Dinah that she'd been doing just fine.

But what had surprised him was that she disappeared off the Star City's secret-ish college's campus whenever there were music classes.

Huh.

It was probably just a thing with her.

Dick sat down on the his bed (he would take the cot if it meant that he could spend a bit a time with her tomorrow) and sighed.

Well, at least he got a few days with her.

But then she'd be off to college.

Oh well.

He could still bother her.


End file.
